The Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, March 25, was hot. How hot exactly? While Make Them Suffer was preparing to take the stage on their headlining North American tour, they compared the temperature to Australian summer — something the metalcore band from Australia would be quite familiar with. For those of us local to Portland, however, this was not something we were accustomed to. The day of the show happened to be an abnormally hot day in Portland for March, making the packed venue of a sold-out show even more muggy than usual.

Despite that, the stifling heat didn’t dampen the crowd’s spirits or deter any moshers or crowd surfers — both the crowd and the entire line-up had their energy turned up to 100 the whole night. From the point Windwaker took the stage, opening the night with their hyperpop-metal, to metalcore outfits Aviana from Sweden, and Like Moths to Flames of Columbus, Ohio, then finally Make Them Suffer with their 14-song headlining set, filled with absolute bangers, the crowd was wild.

Windwaker got the crowd hyped up with their fusion of metalcore and poppy electronic beats. Their music makes me feel like moshing and dancing at the same time. By the looks of the crowd that showed up early for their set, I wasn’t the only one that felt that way.

Next, Aviana commanded the stage with their distinct masked aesthetic. The guitarists spun in synchronicity and the drummer made eye contact with the crowd at various intervals, motioning and encouraging them to get off their feet in time with the beat. Vocalist Joel Holmqvist donned a white trench coat which swayed and twirled around him as he jumped around the stage.

When Like Moths To Flames took to the stage, vocalist Christopher Roetter prefaced their performance by telling the crowd that the last time they played Portland, he was disappointed in the audience engagement. As someone that was there for their previous performance, when they opened for The Devil Wears Prada at the Roseland Theater, I can confirm the crowd that night was underwhelming. This night, however, Portland redeemed themselves. As the crowd surfing and moshing intensified, Roetter commended the crowd for their energy. The crowd jumped in unison so much that the floor bounced—something that another popular Portland venue is known for because it is built to do that. This venue, however, was not made with that in mind, making the feat even more impressive.

After Like Moths To Flames’ set, I didn’t think the crowd could get any more wild, but Make Them Suffer ramped the energy up even more. I saw Make Them Suffer open for ERRA last year so I knew they were outstanding live, but seeing them with a headliner set was a different level. They opened with “Epitaph,” one of the singles from their latest self-titled album, and from there went straight into “Bones.”

There wasn’t a calm moment of the evening, with Make Them Suffer barely pausing to catch their breath between songs. Vocalist Sean Hermanis frequently two-stepped on stage, while keyboardist and backing vocalist Alex Reade did her signature hair flips and whips, as guitarist Nick McLernon wowed with his high jumps.

Admittedly, beyond the first few singles, I was underwhelmed with Make Them Suffer’s self-titled album when it came out last year, but hearing some of the tracks from the album live, I found them more impressive. While the recording felt flat, the live production brought more depth. The real surprise of the evening, however, came at the end, when Make Them Suffer played “Widower” from their debut album, Neverbloom. I hadn’t expected to hear their earlier, more deathcore-oriented material, which made “Widower” the perfect heavy-hitting track and surprise to close out the evening.